A Taste of Freedom
by bisexualcharliedavis
Summary: Whumptober day 24: Bound Charlie befriends the Alpha Edward has brought, and sees an opportunity for something he's never felt before. (omegaverse elements, post apocalypse au)


_A/N: Maybe i should just retire to writing only post apocolypse aus lol. I can't help it; i just love them so much. also i was just craving some Charlie and Matthew *shrugs* Sometimes it just be Like That you know? warnings: this is my first foray into Omegaverse, and it contains some of the usual omegaverse stuff, minor mpreg, scenting, slavery sexual and otherwise, but it does not contain any non-con (thought it is mentioned as something Charlie would like to avoid) or smut. _

It was with great effort that Charlie managed to slip away from the group eating in the middle of the camp and towards the cages at the back, specifically for so-called problem merchandise. It wasn't that they had any particular concern about where he went or what he did; Charlie was only barely more liked than Edward's lowest slaves that wandered about the place, doing this and that. It was more his making excuses as to why he wanted two portions of the midday meal.

He'd come up with what he thought was a good enough lie (something about Edward believing that if Charlie ate more his heat would come in quicker, and in Charlie's defense he had never fought for the leftovers before so it wasn't like he was taking food out of someone's mouth) and secured himself a second stick with two small sausages on it. Actually leaving them behind was easy enough.

There was no one out here this time of day, just the sun, the trouble merchandise, and him.

Charlie'd been pulling his weight at the camp for the last five or so years he'd been in Edward's possession, and he'd never gotten involved before. He worked, they all did, but he'd never felt particularly attached to the merchandise. He used to when one came in who was especially weak or sad but it seemed like a lot of effort these days, the effort that was better spent trying to avoid bringing Edward's wrath down upon him. Yes, being here was bad but the alternative? Unthinkable. Edward was a bastard, but he was the bastard Charlie knew.

Even so, and against his better judgement, he approached the cage. He'd made a ritual of it, the last few days. Taken whatever food he could and brought it out here. It wasn't that Edward didn't feed his merchandise; he did. If they came here and died it would be bad for business. But he was an Alpha, and Charlie was the first to admit his understanding of Alphas was lacking, he was pretty sure they needed more to eat than your usual Beta slave.

He was the only troubled merchandise they had right now; Edward had bought (as he often did) without thinking. An untrained slave, with so much will. He'd seen the dollar signs of an Alpha without thinking about how many dollar signs would have to be spent training him or risk selling him at a loss.

The Alpha was sitting the sheltered side of the little hovel cage, both of his ankles bound. Charlie didn't see the reason for it; it was hardly like he could go anywhere. The first couple of times, Charlie had been too frightened to do much more than give him the extra food and flee, mostly because the Alpha had been baring his teeth and something hardcoded inside of him triggered his fight or flight response.

Yesterday, he'd waited around for a few extra moments, and the Alpha had regarded him with curiosity, the same curiosity Charlie probably fostered about him. Or not, Charlie was curious because he was twenty-five and had never seen an Alpha before. If the Alpha was well enough travelled than he'd probably seen other Omegas. Charlie had been born to and spent his life being traded from Beta to Beta who sought out little more than to fuck him.

The joke was on them, though. Charlie's heats had never come in. The first couple had thought that he was just a late bloomer, but his teens and then half of his twenties had passed, and he'd never so much as felt a flicker of it. Which was for the best, because it meant that he never dropped his guard enough for jumping to be worth the effort from a Beta.

He held the stick between his teeth and knelt, making fast work of Edward's sloppy knots. The Alpha came closer, and Charlie didn't move away. He had a bad limp in his leg, probably what got him caught. You'd have to have some pretty serious guts to capture an Alpha though, he thought, as he hesitantly put his arm between the bars, stick in hand. The Alpha looked at it, and then at him.

He reached out to take it, and when his fingers brushed Charlie's hand it burned. Like fire, but in a good way. He drew his hand away as quickly as he could and held it with his other hand. The Alpha didn't notice and was too busy starting to eat. He debated running, but he knew he needed to get the stick back, least Edward see it and think that he was getting a weapon ready. He had no fear during the day, Edward spent it mostly inside out of the oppressive heat.

He doesn't remember the last time he felt anything more than hot. When he was a little boy, he remembered rain and seasons. His mother used to always tell him about not getting his head wet; lest he catch a cold. After they'd been separated, he'd tried to find whatever he could through the grapevine, last he heard of them they'd been freed by a man who was not his poor dead father and was living with them. Apparently it was love.

He didn't know, but if that was true he was grateful. He knew that he'd never be reunited with them; slaves rarely were. He also knew eventually his body would snap and he'd go into heat, be claimed and probably spend the rest of his life chained to a bedpost as a sex slave. At least until he stopped being pretty enough to fuck. Then...He didn't know what came next. He shook the thoughts away, he was alive right now. He didn't need to worry about the future.

Even so, the burning desire to see them again simmered his insides.

"Omega…" Says a voice inside the cage, it's heavy and worn. His eyes snapped away from the scorched earth they'd fallen on, "Stay a moment, won't you?"

"I need to get the stick back." He said, "You don't want Edward to find you with it."

Without so much as a hesitation, he handed it back. Charlie took it and tucked it into the waistband of his pants. As ragged and dirty as they were, it was better than being naked. He knew he should leave, but he doesn't. The Alpha has come close to the cage walls, but Charlie isn't afraid. Maybe he should be, but he's not. All he's thinking is that he smells calm and good. Not like anger, the way he has the last few days. Maybe he's schooling himself, to not scare him away like the stupid Omega he is.

"Do you belong to Edward?" He asks.

"For the last five years." He replied, eyes unable to break away.

"Are you bonded to him?"

"I...I've never...No. I'm not."

"Edward keeps an unbonded Omega doing manual labor?" He sounded surprised, and then his eyebrows furrowed in together. They were so pale he could hardly see them, but his face was dirty so it was easier.

"I haven't had a heat yet." He confessed; "Gotta earn my keep somehow."

"Patrick would never approve of that."

"Mr. Tyneman? You know him?"

"I do." He confirmed, "I think that's where Edward is going to send me when he thinks I'm broken."

"Oh." He says, simply. He doesn't know what he should say if anything. "Will you see your family again?"

"I got into this mess looking for my family."

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks." He said, and then sat down, sighing as he took the pressure off his leg. Charlie kept standing, watching him closely. Something long neglected inside of him wanted desperately to be touched again. "You got a name? Can't keep callin' you Omega all the time." He didn't know why. Edward did, and he was an Alpha. Technically, he should be above a Beta like Edward. If he was out of that cage, he would be.

"Charlie." He said, "'s not short for anything. Just Charlie."

"I'm Matthew." He said, "You've been coming here for a few days."

"Yeah."

"I didn't mean to frighten you, I was just...Well. I was frightened myself."

"I didn't mean to get frightened. I just never met an Alpha before."

"Really?"

"You're the first."

"Thought you'd get a lot of us out this way."

"Not really, most people aren't stupid enough to buy stolen people." He scuffed the toe of his shoes on the ground, and wondered what it felt like to be free. He knew he'd never know, and that was just his lot but it never hurt to wonder.

"Ah. Are you a stolen person?"

"No." Matthew nodded to himself, deep in thought. Charlie thought maybe he should go. He had a lot to do before the day was up and didn't want to be out after nightfall if he didn't have to be. He felt a pang of sorrow for the captive Alpha. He couldn't stand the noises out here and he doubted he liked them much either. Maybe he could convince Edward to move him inside?

"Do you have a family looking for you?"

"No. Well, I got a family but I doubt they're looking for me after the trouble I caused."

"What trouble could make your family want to abandon you?" Charlie sat on the ground looking into the hovel. He folded his legs one over the other and then dropped his hands between them.

"I presented when I was ten." He said, "And you know, male Omegas ain't common, and the master they had wanted to sell me even though he promised they could keep their babies. My old man had one of those new chips, the ones that blow up in, and I dunno. Just went feral, trying to get a hold of me." He shrugged, "Those things...I don't even think he noticed 'till it was too late. I doubt Mum could stand the sight of me. But I heard that they got out. Found someone to look after them."

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea that they were doing that to people." Matthew says, and his pale eyebrows are half up his face in surprise. Charlie just shrugs.

"It was a long time ago." He said, and he felt distant. Like how he felt his whole life, drifting along. Waiting for his heats to begin, thinking about his family who probably hadn't thought about him unless it was to curse his name. Doing what Edward told him to in an effort to escape punishment. It was miserable, but it was his.

"Things like that, they don't stop hurting," Matthew said, and then didn't say anything else. Charlie sat still, and thought about what he should be doing, instead of staring intently at the Alpha. He should be chopping wood, moving things from the old shed to the new, planting things in Edward's latest invention the 'farm', he was certain Edward expected him to wash the sheets today and clean the silverware, but he didn't want to do that. He just wanted to be right where he was. He'd never see another Alpha, probably and this one was so polite and smelled so good and his wrist was still hot where he got touched.

"Do you have a chip?" Matthew asked, breaking the quiet.

"It's an old one." He replied, "But yeah."

"How old?"

"I dunno. Only ever had one, so twenty somethin' years."

"If you were to leave, would Edward…."

"Pop my head? Nah."

"So what keeps you here?"

"Where would I go?" He asked, "Here is miserable, but if I go then I'll just get picked up again; an unbonded Omega whose only ever been a slave? Might as well paint a target on my back. And if they find that chip and bring my back...Edward…" He'd seen what Edward did to escaped Slaves, saw them wandering the compound glassy-eyed and silent. He didn't want to end up like that.

"You could go with me."

"Yeah? You got a pack lookin' for ya?"

"I would hope so." Matthew replied, "But I know where to find them."

"And how do they treat Omegas there? I ain't gonna sign myself over to be your pack bitch." Matthew scowled.

"We treat them like people. I got a friend, the pack leader...Can take that chip out." Charlie scented the air, he smelled truthful. Sincere.

"How you gonna get out?"

"Dunno yet." Charlie looked thoughtful, and then picked up the ropes and re-tied Matthew's ankles.

"Just pull that to get loose." He said.

"Okay." He said.

"I can get the keys from Edward." He said, "But if I get 'em then you gotta get away 'cause you don't wanna know what he's gonna do to us if he finds out."

"I'll need a stick."

"Leave it with me," Charlie said and stood up. "Leave it with me." He repeated and left.

…

He stole the keys three nights later, right out of Edward's pocket. He'd sworn his heart was going to burst from his chest, but it didn't. He grabbed the stick he'd found, and fled to the cage.

"You've got it," Matthew said, he sounded surprised. "Thought for sure you were gonna rat me out."

"We gotta go." He said, "Can you get to your pack?"

"I think so," Matthew said, and accepted the stick, putting a lot of weight on it. Charlie gave one last look to Edward's homestead and felt nothing but disgust. Slipping away into the night was the first freedom he'd ever felt.


End file.
